This paper critically reviews and analyses the empirical and theoretical literature relating to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs and their impact on the attitudes and behaviours of consumers. Given the increasingly important and influential role that corporations are playing in society, this review considers the contrasting arguments surrounding the extent to which a well-designed and implemented CSR program will impact consumers. In doing so, this review improves our understanding of the importance of corporate socially responsible action and identifies gaps in the field of CSR research that need to be addressed in order to help organizations more effectively adopt CSR programs.

This paper argues that the notion of value has been overly simplified and narrowed to focus on economic returns. Stakeholder theory provides an appropriate lens for considering a more complex perspective of the value that stakeholders seek as well as new ways to measure it. We develop a four-factor perspective for defining value that includes, but extends beyond, the economic value stakeholders seek. To highlight its distinctiveness, we compare this perspective to three other popular performance perspectives. Recommendations are made regarding performance measurement for both academic researchers and practitioners. The stakeholder perspective on value offered in this paper draws attention to those factors that are most closely associated with building more value for stakeholders, and in so doing, allows academics to better measure it and enhances managerial ability to create it.